In 2015 the UCLA Football team really took it to the Arizona Wildcats when they met in the desert. This year the Wildcats travel to Pasadena looking to make amends.
The desert has been mostly kind to the UCLA Football program as of late. It gave them Brett Hundley and Paul Perkins who helped resurrect the program after a few middling years and since 2012 UCLA has not lost to Arizona.
Despite the three year record the 2015 match up gave most of the UCLA faithful a sense of dread. In practice that week the Bruins lost star linebacker Myles Jack to a season ending knee injury. At the same time the Wildcats were getting back their top linebacker Scooby Wright from a knee injury suffered early in the season. Josh Rosen, despite leading UCLA to a win, played a poor first half against a tough BYU team in the week prior showing that he was still just a freshman.
Those worries would be put to rest as soon as kickoff took place with the Bruins asserting themselves in all phases of the game with Rosen throwing for over 280 yards and two scores through the air and adding one on the ground. The UCLA running backs combined for 205 yards and five scores.
Defensively the Bruins were able to force three turnovers and limit the Wildcats through the air but surrendered 353 yards on the ground in what would be a hint at the run defense for the rest of the season.
2015 Record and Recap
Arizona Wildcats 7-6 (PAC-12)
More from Go Joe Bruin
- UCLA Football: It’s time for the nation to meet Dante Moore
- UCLA Football: Where are they ranked heading into week 4
- UCLA Football: Position battle breakdown for Utah showdown
- UCLA vs. Utah: Location, time, prediction, and more
- UCLA Football: Highlights from Chip Kelly’s appearance on the Jim Rome Show
2015 started out with the Wildcats knocking down their first three opponents in their non-conference schedule although it was a fairly soft first three. They also had to deal with the loss of their top tackler the past three years in Wright and injuries to starting QB Anu Solomon who was knocked out the UCLA game and missed match ups against Stanford and a late season contest against rival Arizona St. Neither of those injuries were particularly easy to overcome.
The loss to UCLA would be the beginning to a very up and down PAC-12 season and the next week against the Stanford Cardinal, the Wildcats were pushed around the the tune of a 55-17 loss. They rebounded the next two weeks with PAC-12 victories but those were against the bottom feeders of the conference in Oregon St. and Colorado. Then came the losses again.
Arizona had a heartbreaking loss to the Washington State Cougars, a feeling which the Bruins also shared last season, and then were blown out by the Washington Huskies. They followed that loss up with another to the Trojans who scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to win the game by eight.
A double overtime win over Utah made the Wildcats bowl eligible but they also lost their sixth game of the season next week to rival Arizona St. They would finish the season with a win over New Mexico in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.
This season the Wildcats will have to adjust to an almost entirely new defensive staff lead by new defensive coordinator Marcel Yates who comes over after a very successful stint as the DC with Boise St. While there will be an adjustment period, head coach Rich Rodriguez has made it clear he wants a more physical, dominant, defense.
Next: 3 Key Players and Stats
3 Key Players
QB Anu Solomon
Despite missing games with injury in 2015, this QB is still one of the best in the PAC-12 when he’s on. A much improved passer, he also is dangerous with his legs and was able to slash the UCLA defense before being knocked out of the game.
Each season Solomon has sharpened his skills as a QB from accuracy to reading defenses so I fully expect him to get right back on that horse and make another jump as a QB in what may be his last season should he decide to forgo his senior season. After returning to action after suffering a concussion, Solomon did show a little more hesitation running the ball up until the Utah game so while he may not be as willing to run all over the place, he’s still needs to be accounted for when drawing up defensive gameplans.
RB Nick Wilson
West Coast college football fans shouldn’t need too much of a backstory but here it is anyway. In 2014 Wilson blew it up for Arizona. He rushed for over 1,300 yards and had 16 scores on the ground. 2015 saw a drop in his stats but he was still just as effective as a runner by averaging 5.5 yards per carry last season and eight touchdowns. Last year the Bruins let Wilson run wild to the tune of 136 yards but managed to keep him out of the endzone. Will the UCLA Football team improve it’s run defense or will Wilson get to have another field day?
DE Jack Banda
New defensive coordinator Marcel Yates had the pleasure of having one of college football’s best pass rushers in Kamalei Correa who was drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Ravens. Now at Arizona, Yates will likely look for a guy who he can use in the same types of ways and that guy will probably be Banda.
Gifted with an explosive first step and strong hands, Banda was second on the team in 2015 with three sacks but has the potential and now the scheme to easily double that total. He will be facing off against a UCLA team that has very talented bookends but is retooling it’s O-line.
Related Story: Stanford Will Be the First Test of Power
Stats
- The Wildcats scored 486 points on the season and were deadliest in the second quarter (145).
- The Arizona defense was one of the worst in the country last year (113) which prompted much of their defensive changes. Boise St., where new defensive coordinator Marcel Yates spent 2015 was ranked 22nd.
- UCLA racked up a meager 28 sacks in 2015. The Wildcats only produced 27. There were 16 different players in division one last year who had at least eleven sacks.
- UCLA is 23-15-2 against the Wildcats and is currently enjoying a four win streak.
Next: Offenses vs Defenses
UCLA Offense vs Arizona Defense
We should preface this by saying both of these units will be going through a great deal of transition early in the 2016 season. UCLA has a new offense coordinator in Kennedy Polamalu who will be looking to use power out of more traditional sets. Arizona brought in an entirely new defensive staff and of course they will be working on becoming more comfortable with their new defensive system.
That being said, the UCLA offense should be able to have plenty of success against the Wildcats. The Bruins have the potential for an explosive passing game if they can keep Josh Rosen upright but they may not be looking to pass all that often against the Wildcats. UCLA’s running game should be a major strength and the Arizona defense struggled heavily to stop the run last season and was one of the worst tackling teams I saw all season.
Although Yates was able to field one of the top run defenses at Boise St. I believe he’s still a couple years away from being able to have the same type of success in the desert. He also showed the ability to have multiple fronts and occasionally some exotic looks. At the point when this game takes place, look for Arizona to be focused heavily on fundamentals instead of reinventing the wheel.
Related Story: UCLA vs Stanford Early Analysis
UCLA Defense vs Arizona Offense
So the good news for Arizona is that Nick Wilson gets a chance to run for miles again on the Bruins. The bad news? UCLA will have a healthy DT Eddie Vanderdoes to terrorize both quarterbacks and runningbacks. The Bruins return a slew of players who were injured for this match up last season and have another year under defensive coordinator Tom Bradley‘s system. That alone should make the Bruins a better defense not to mention that they brought in a ton of talented players including a few key JUCO transfers who are physically ready to help the defense right away.
Arizona will still feature the patented Rich Rodriguez spread attack that he’s taken everywhere in his career. The Wildcats do have a stable of talented offensive players led by quarterback Solomon and Wilson on the ground.
However they will be replacing a few offensive linemen including their center and that could potentially spell disaster for a team that has been without their starting quarterback numerous times over the past few seasons. Even if the Wildcats spread the UCLA defense out, the Bruins have the players in the back end to contend with even five wide sets.
Next: Final Analysis and Prediction
Final Analysis
In what will be their first PAC-12 South game, the Bruins should come out able to fire on all cylinders provided they make it through Stanford relatively unscathed the week before. While that game may beat them up some, there is little doubt they have what it takes to take down the Wildcats.
Solomon has shown sparks here and there against UCLA but hasn’t figured them out yet and I don’t think this will be the match up where he does. While the Wildcats’ running game should be strong as ever, their defense will be what ultimately keeps them from winning this game.
The Bruin offense will have had more than a few weeks to figure everything out and should be deadly from this game on leading me to confidently say that UCLA will be able to not only move the ball at will but will be able to capitalize on almost every scoring opportunity
must read: Predicting the Depth Chart-Offensive Line
Prediction
UCLA 35-Arizona 20
While their offense doesn’t completely take the day off, UCLA is simply too much for the Wildcats to contend with.